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What do you guys think of the reddit alternatives?
(lemmy.world)
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this post was submitted on 22 May 2026
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Please excuse my ignorance, but should I change instances then? To one instance that can see more of themselves and it's more active? To Hexbear.net or something?
Do you want to see communist content more? Lemmy.ml or something like Lemmy.zip can maximize federation. Do you want to pretty much only see content from leftists of various stripes, and want to defederate from non-leftists? Hexbear.net is nice too. It depends on what you want.
Personally, I think the best thing to do is scroll some instances locally without an account and see if you like the vibe, then transfer over to the one that fits you the best.
What if I prefer communists, but also want exposure to contrasting/conflicting views and principles? I know you advised a lemmy.ml acc, but I have been here for a few months and constantly hear about how other instances block/defed the .ml instance. I kinda hate how ppl shut out others and use lemmy to just form their own echo chamber of comfort. What instance do the moderately conservative communists prefer?
Lemmy.ml isn't really defederated. Individual users may block it, but that doesn't stop me from seeing their viewpoints, it just stops them from seeing mine. You could make a Lemmy.zip account, and just subscribe to the communities across instances you want to see, then scroll by "subscribed," making your own local feed.
I don't know what you mean by "moderately conservative communists," communists are definitionally radicals.
When I speak of 'moderately conservative communists,' I mean something closer to someone who acknowledges that to survive the ecological catastrophe and economic madness, we must become conservative. We must conserve the commons, the state's capacity to protect its citizens, and the welfare state against the 'radical' destruction of the market. Basically I think we should have a strong state that limits the freedom of corporations to destroy us.
Please counter-attack where I go astray, preferably viciously too.
I don't really think "conservative" is a helpful angle due to the connotations. I think "pragmatic, and planned" are good descriptors. The advancement of green energy, the radical restructuring of society, all of this is definitely not seen as "conservative." Further, I'm confused if you mean social democracy, or socialism proper (ie, Nordic capitalism vs. China's socialist market economy).
I understand the hesitation with the word, but I think we need to reclaim it. If we look at the ecological crisis, the market is the 'radical' force destroying the planet. To be a communist who wants to strictly protect the environment is, by definition, a 'conservative' act. We are trying to conserve the habitability of the Earth. It isn't about choosing between Nordic social democracy or China's model; it is about the state acting as a adequate defense against the chaos of the market.
My issue with both choices is that both are ultimately still playing by the rules of global capital. I'm talking about a 'conservatism' that refuses both. It isn't about being 'pragmatic' or simply 'planned' in my opinion, it is about the strict protection of the commons.
I understand, but at least if we are to consider the march towards communism as the continued development of humanity onto a qualitatively new level, this is a progression. We can be conservationists with respect to the environment, but certainly not conservative. To try to hold back the wheel of history is to be reactionary, not progressive.
The state is not opposed to the market, which is why I brought up the Nordic countries and China. In capitalism, the state serves capitalists. In socialism, the state serves the working classes. A socialist state is necessary for supremacy over capital, which is why revolution is necessary.
But isn't the 'wheel of history' precisely what is driving us toward ecological collapse? Sometimes the truly revolutionary act is to stop the clock, to say 'enough' to this automatic march of progress. If 'progress' means the destruction of the environment, then the only way to be truly progressive is to become conservative: to stubbornly conserve the commons and our material existence against the market's drive to destroy them. We have to survive the 'march' before we can reach the destination.
I agree that the socialist state must serve the working class, but I would argue that this service is inherently a conservative project. The state must act as a guardian, conserving the health, housing, and resources of the people against the chaotic 'progress' of the market. We shouldn't fear the word 'conservative' if it means we are refusing to let the logic of capital degrade our lives. The revolution isn't just about seizing the state; it's about using that state to protect us.
Progress doesn't mean the destruction of the environment. You cannot stop the clock. Progress is necessary to stop the destruction, and to take a more harmonious approach. See how China is combatting desertification, and is rapidly electrifying and adopting solar as the biggest new energy source. This is progress.
As for the state protecting the people, this is progressive. Nay, revolutionary. The people take political power in their own hands, and can radically transform the world and better meet their place in it. The wheel of history is pressed forward.
I fear you're on a pipeline towards eco-fascism. Not saying you're an eco-fascist, to be clear, but the combination of trying to stop progress while also adopting prop environmental policies can definitely lead people down that road. It's not a nice road.
I think you may have the causality backwards. Eco-fascism thrives on scarcity, no? In my mind, it is what happens when the state fails to manage resources and people are forced to fight for scraps. My point is that we must use the state to strictly conserve the commons to ensure there is enough for everyone. That is the opposite of fascism. It is the only guarantee against it. As for China, simply electrifying the economy with solar panels doesn't change the underlying logic of endless accumulation. We can't just assume the 'wheel of history' will save us if we don't grab the wheel ourselves.
Not really, we need to advance to make production more green, efficient, and to reduce our impact on the environment.
But when you make production more efficient, people don't consume less. They consume more. 'Green advancement' is often just a license to expand the exploitation of nature under a new label. We cannot 'advance' our way out of a systemic crisis, but if we fundamentally change our relationship to consumption, maybe we can start to really rip the e-brake on how efficiently we have been and currently are exploiting nature.
You can both produce more efficiently and without excess without stopping advancement.
You are treating advancement like it is a neutral force of nature, but it is really just driven by the need to keep growing. You say we can be efficient without excess, but that ignores how efficiency actually works in the real world. When we figure out how to use a resource more efficiently, we do not use less of it overall. We just consume more because it becomes cheaper. Making green tech more efficient does not hit the brakes on the machine. It just gives the system a cheaper, greener excuse to expand mining and infrastructure.
You assume a socialist state will just choose to stop producing once it is efficient enough, but the whole logic of advancement requires endless expansion. If the socialist state keeps up the project of endless industrial growth just with a red flag over the factories, the planet still burns. The relentless drive for more production caused the ecological crisis in the first place. Doing it faster and greener is not the cure. You cannot run an infinite growth engine on a finite planet and expect it to voluntarily stop. The climate does not care if the bulldozer destroying the forest is owned by a billionaire or a workers' collective. Believing that efficiency will magically solve overconsumption without us fundamentally changing our relationship to consumption is just wishful thinking.
I think you're confusing the profit motive with development. Accumulation of capital is what drives endless expansion and overconsumption. Socialism is necessary to stop that cycle, as rather than profit, suiting the needs of humanity becomes the goal.
You say that shifting from profit to human need stops the cycle of endless expansion, but I think you are underestimating how elastic "human needs" actually are. Under an industrial socialist system, if the state decides that everyone needs an electric car, a modern apartment, and global supply chains for fresh produce year-round, the expansion continues. The motive changes, but the physical extraction stays the same.
To build all that green infrastructure to meet those needs, you still have to mine lithium, cobalt, and rare earth metals on a massive scale. Those mines still destroy ecosystems and pollute water, whether the workers or capitalists own them. Profit does not physically dig the holes in the earth. Machines and labor do that. Changing the reason we dig the hole does not stop the hole from destroying the local environment.
The core issue is that you are replacing the profit motive with a productivist motive. You are assuming that as long as we are producing for need instead of profit, we can keep expanding production indefinitely. But the planet has hard physical limits. A truly socialist system has to recognize those limits and intentionally restrict what we consume, not just change who is doing the consuming. If your version of socialism just promises more stuff for everyone, you are still running an infinite growth engine on a finite planet.
federation certainly allows the bubble to close - {dot}world is an example; zero hate, people can absolutely choose to ensmollen their PoV if that makes their world safer. the nice thing is, interesting, thriving alter-views are only a federated instance away :-)
I tend towards the democratic socialist point of view as a default, but damn-me if hexbear isn't both entertaining and informative, even if I disagree with some of their more... spicy(?) positions (sometimes vehemently).
lemmy{dot}ml is one of the most widely federated instances around, primarily because its a pretty diverse mix of lefty and lefty-ish ideas. lemmygrad{dot} hexbear{dot}net and blahaj{dot}zone and others equality as infuriating/interesting are all accessible from lemmy{dot}ml. its a pretty ideal instance, for me at least.
one thing I do try to make a point of doing is preferentially interacting on non {dot}world posts and comments. many peeps will post across community instances to encourage engagent diversity. keeping things active on non-{dot}world communities helps everyone.